Power-operated vacuum massage apparatus



H. L. HOPKiNS. POWER OPERATED VACUUM MASSAGE APPARATUS. APPLLCATION FILED NOV. 14. 1911.

1,364,500. Patented- Jan. 4,1921.

- 2 SHEETSQSHE 1.

vHy-1; HOPKINS. POWER OPERATED VACUUM MASSAGE APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. n. 1918.

1,364,500. v Patented Jan. 4,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY L. HOPKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO GUS- TAVUS A. SMITH, OF MARSHALLTGWN,

GIBE AUL'I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Iowa, AND ONE-THIRD T0 enoaon n POWER-OPERATED VACUUM MASSAGE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Janet, 1923i,

Application filed November 14, 1918.- Serial No. 262,522.

To allachom it may concern:

Be, it known that I, HARV Y L. HOPKINS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Power-Operated Vacuum Massage App atus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention is concerned with certain ew nd u efu mpr v nt n po e P- eratedvaeuum massageapparatus, and is designed to produce an apparatus of the class described, operated by power, which. shall have all the capacity and effectiveness that are inherent in similar hand operated devices, such for instance as that shownin my Patent: 1,217,886, dated February 27, 1917, yet which shall not necessitate the laborious hand manipulationinherent inthe hand operated, devices,

In power operated vacuum massage apparatus heretofore used or proposed, with which I am familiar, the vacuum has al- Ways been producedby reciprocating piston pump, driven continuously, with the result that the duration of the vacuum pull was alwayslimited by the length of time consumed by the motor in moving the piston in, one direction, asthe vacuum was necessarily released at, each'reciprocation. Furthermore, it tooka very considerable portion of thejsu ction stroke to produce the vacuum, so that the effective pull of the vacuum was necessarily very short and always'intermittent. In my improved apparatus I substitute for the reciprocating pump, a rotary pump and arrange: to release the constant and continuous,Vacuumproduced thereby by a mfiChanislnwhich preferably automatically opens the valve ja nd releases the vacuum at desired intervals This mechanism is preferably-adjusted so. that the vacuum can be released say every second, or held as long as say fifteen seconds, which I consider the longest time that is desirable to hold it without release,as a longer period tends to bruise the tissues and discolor the skin, or itmay be held indefinitely, if desired.

To illustrate my invention, I annex hereto two sheets of drawings in which the same reference characters are used to designate identiealparts all the figures, of wh ch- F igure 1 is a side elevation of an. ap aratus employing my invention, the. same" 'eing partly in section'on the line 1 l of g v Fig. 2 is a view in section on the line 2-2 f F g 7 .v

Fig. '3 isa detail in section on the line 3--3 ofF1g.2;

iga'e san nlar d ta l of aport o a emfii 'k. llu a ing d st f j mloyi ga lurality cream an of which may be thrown out of action when desired;

Fig. 5 is a detail on the line 5 -5 of Fig. and v v U Fig. 6 is a detail on the line 6-6 of Fig, 5. i V I In carrying out my invention inits preferred form, I mount upon the common base 10, an electric motor 11, which maybe of any desired rotary type, and I connect its armature shaft directly to or form integral with] the driving shaft 126i a rotary pump 13, which may. be desired type capable of producing a constant suction upon the intake tube 14:, will be provided with a nipple'l5 upon which is secured a flexible, but'non-collapsible tube 16,01": th de d eng o; tha th u tomary vacuum cup '17 located at the'outer end ofthe'f same may be readily IIIlOI d QS is' needed With relationship to the. patient being treated by the handle 18. "such appaw w ll, w th the mo r iie i sl fl duc'e a 'constant vacuum in, the 011 5117, and in order to releasethe vacuum, I provide the valve 19 adapted to cooperate with" the va e eat 20 t med near 'e' pp q h' take w n Th s al e s'jp b ded' wit a" te extend n p th us' an ap rture in the) topfof the tabs or standard 14:, and held with the valve against the" seat 20 helie ally coiledexpanding spring 22 cooperating with the seemin cross-piece 29.

cally at any desired interval, and for this purpose I employ the automatic release mechanism to be described.

On the shaft 12, I secure a worm 24 which drives a worm gear wheel 25 secured upon the shaft 26 journaled in bearings 27 in the standards 28 secured to the base 10 and connected by a pair of cross-pieces 29 and 30. Upon the shaft 26 is .splined a friction disk 31, which cooperates with the friction surface of a cam disk 32 secured on the end of a shaft 33 journaled in bearings 34 se cured on the pump casing 01' upon a pair of auxiliary standards 35. A helically coiled expanding spring 36 surrounding the shaft 33 between the hub of the cam disk 32 and the adjacent bearing 34 serves to press the cam disk 32 into the desired frictional engagement with the friction disk 31. Upon the periphery of the disk 32 I locate one or more cams 37 which are adapted to engage the anti-friction roller 38 carried by the lever 39 fulcrumed at 40 in the standard 41 which may be formed integral with the upper half of the bearing 34. The other end of the lever 39 is pivotally connected at 42 with the upper end of the valve stem 21 so that, if a single cam projection 37 is employed, the vacuum will be released once at each rotation of the disk 32. As the speed of rotation of the disk 32 is governed by the position of the disk or roller 21 on the shaft 26, I have thus provided means for securing a very effective regulation of the length of the intervals between the release of the valve, always providing the motor is operating at a constant speed. To adjust and hold the disk or roller 31 in the desired positions, I preferably provide it with a hub 43 having. an annular channel therein in which is located a sleeve 44 carrying a pair of radially projecting pins 45 extending into the slots 46 of the forked end of the lever 47 fulcrumed at 48 on the The other end of the lever 47 is provided with a bolt 48 extending through a slot 49 in the cross-piece 30, which slot is curved about the fulcrum 48 as a center and is provided on one edge with the graduations 50 which may indicate the approximate duration in seconds of the intervals between the releases when a single cam lug is employed. A nut 51 threaded on the end of the bolt serves as a means of clamping the lever 47 in any desired position of adjustment.

While the adjusting apparatus furnishes a wide range of adjustment, I may add thereto an additional range by providing additional cam lugs 37 which are arranged so as to be thrown into and out of operative position. For this reason, each of the lugs 37 and preferably the lug 37, is provided with an ear 52, pivoted between the ears 53 on the rear face of the disk 32 and a leaf its operative position against the centrifugal force tending to displace it, I locate in the disk adjacent it a pring-pressed plunger 56 which cooperates with the recess 57 in the shank 58 of the lug 37 The operation of my improved device will be readily apparent to those skilled in the use of vacuum massage apparatus, and it will be apparent that I can secure an almost instantaneous vacuum after each release and hold the same for whatever interval is desirable. By adjusting the nut 23, the extent of the vacuum can be controlled and thus no danger of injuring the tissues is present if the machine is properly manipulated.

I have herein shown and described a generic invention, but the claims herein are specific, the generic claims being found in my application No. 353,863, filed January 24, 1920, which I expect to have issued on the same date as the present application.

While I have shown and described my invention as embodied in the form that I at present consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, it will be understood that it is capable of modifications, and I do not desire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claims except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a vacuum massage apparatus, the combination with a rotary pump adapted to be driven continuously in one direction, of a cup connected by a passage with the intake of the pump, a worm on the pump shaft, a worm wheel driven thereby, a shaft for the worm wheel, a friction wheel on the worm wheel shaft, a cam disk engaged by said friction wheel, and a lever connected so 1the relief valve and engaging the cam is r.

2. In a vacuum massage apparatus, the combination with a rotary pump adapted to be driven continuously in one direction, of a cup connected by a passage with the intake of the pump, a worm on the pump shaft, a worm wheel driven thereby, a shaft for the worm wheel, a friction wheel splined on the worm wheel shaft, a cam disk engaged by said friction wheel, a lever connected to the relief valve and engaging the cam disk, and means for adjusting and securing said friction wheel longitudinally on the shaft.

3. In a vacuum massage apparatus, the combination with a rotary pump adapted to be driven continuously in one direction, of a cup connected by a passage with the intake of the pump, a worm on the pump shaft, a worm wheel driven thereby, a shaft for the Worm wheel, a friction wheel splined on the worm wheel shaft, a cam disk engaged by said friction wheel, a lever connected to the relief valve and engaging the cam disk, a lever engaging at one end an annular groove in the friction wheel and at the other end an index sector, and means for securing the lever in any adjacent adjustment.

4. In a vacuum massage apparatus, the combination with a rotary pump adapted to be driven continuously in one direction, of a cup connected by a passage with the intake of the pump, a worm on the pump shaft, a

worm wheel driven thereby, a shaft for the worm wheel, a friction wheel on the worm wheel shaft, a cam disk engaged by said friction wheel, a lever connected to the relief valve and engaging the cam disk, a plurality of cams on the periphery of the disk, and means for throwing some of said cams out of operation.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and aflixed my seal, this fourth day of November, A. D. 1918.

HARVEY L. HOPKINS. [1,. s.]

Witness:

JOHN HOWARD MCELROY. 

